Examining peer relationships of young children in terms of teacher-child relationship

The main purpose of the study is to examine the peer relationships of young children in terms of teacher-children relationship. The participants of this study were composed of 99 Turkish children (between the ages of five and six). Sociometry Technique Based on Peer Nomination and Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) were used. According to results, levels of teacher-child closeness predicted the levels of being liked by peers. Levels of teacher-child conflict and closeness, significantly predict levels of being disliked by peers. Levels of teacher-child conflict and dependency not predict levels of being liked by peers. Also, levels of teacher-child dependency not predict levels of being disliked by peers. In addition, the arithmetic means of children in this study for their social statuses differed based on closeness from teacher-child relationship variables. It was determined that the closeness mean scores of popular children with their teachers were higher than the rejected children.